Slitter Rewinder: Chapter 30
Retrofitting slitter rewinders for increasing production:A converting plant has to be on the cutting edge of technology to survive in this climate. There is no way an American manufacturer can compete with India or China. Labor costs in China are reportedly 65 cents an hour! India is not too far behind as far as hourly "slave" wages are concerned.
Add to this the taxation situation. State taxes, Federal taxes, real estate taxes, sales tax, fuel surcharge, heating costs and the list goes on and on. Insurance costs are another big factor. Ofcourse, none of these "safety" costs are an issue with third world countries.
The poor countries do not have any of these costs to consider. This is something we will discuss in another post. For now, let us concentrate on increasing production. As you can see, we face a daunting task indeed. This is not a level playing field. American manufacturers are in a do or die situation.
Cutting costs:
There is only so much cost cutting one can do. You can lower your thermostats and freeze your workers. This will save a few bucks a year. You can reduce your waste factor to almost zero. Even after you cut all your costs down to the bone, you are still in a no win situation.
There is only one thing you can do, and that is to increase production. Even this increased production may not be enough to offset the cost differential between overseas production costs and domestic costs. However , we cannot just sit around twiddling our thumbs, hoping that the Politicans will do something about this sad situation. The Politicans are touting "job creation" in the service sector. These "minimum wage" paying jobs are sending us back to the stone age. Next thing we will see is horse and buggies all over our landscape.
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